Ollie

Ollie just got a new bunk bed (thank you Uncle Sam for the tax return). He's been sleeping in his firetruck toddler bed for about three years now. He was getting too big for it. He is super excited to have a bunk bed. For now, he is sleeping on the bottom. He is a crazy sleeper and has already fallen out of bed once. We have been encouraging him to sleep towards the back part of the bed. One night I went in to cover him up and he was curled up in a ball almost against the wall. Very cute.





Ollie has also finished his reading lesson book. It took him about six months so it was a big accomplishment for him. To reward him he wanted to have a tea party. He wanted to invite all of his girl friends over. (He was worried about inviting the boys because he thought they might not like to have a tea party.) He had a GREAT time. He helped me plan the menu and fix all the food. He helped me vacuum and sweep the floors. He planned all the games we played. We talked all about being a 'host' before the party. He helped with everything. It was truly his party. After the party he cleared the table and washed the tea set. He's growing up! Here's a picture of the kids playing one of the balloon games and another picture of them eating their lunch and having tea (hot chocolate).

Lily

Lily got some new hats. She LOVES them. She has several different colors but pink is her favorite. She also has some flowers to go with them. She has decided that she doesn't really like the flowers on the hat. I took this picture really quick before she managed to pull the flower off.



She loves to look "pretty". Today I asked her if she wanted to wear a dress and she wanted to wear a "pink dress". She then went into my room and looked in the full length mirror and told herself how pretty she looked. She loves this pink tutu. She would wear it all the time if I let her.




She loves to try to tell jokes. She tries to tell us knock-knock jokes (because Ollie does). She never gets them quite right. Her favorite right now is
Lily- knock knock
Mom, Papa, or Ollie- Whose there?
Lily- Mooooo
Then she laughs hysterically and says "I'm a joke!" We just laugh and say "Yes, you are a joke."
Her other favorite joke... I like to wisper in my children's ears, "I love you." It makes them smile. Ollie used to always then whisper in my ear, "I love you." Lily, however, always whispers in my ear, "I love Ollie." My job is then to tickle her and say, "You're such a teaser." She loves this little joke.

Our most exciting news for Lily is (drum roll please)... she walks! She walks very well. She wears a special shoe on her left foot to help balance her out. She loves having more freedom. This is a picture of the first built up shoe she had. A cute pair of green crocs. I know it's kind of strange to have a picture of a shoe on a blog but for all the far away family members and friends, I thought you might like to see this. :)

Kiddo Quotes

Here's a funny quote from each kiddo


Lily- (said very joyously, while pointing at a fly) "Look Mom, there's a bird in our house!" She was very excited to have a "bird" in the house!

Ollie- (after talking briefly to my Mom on the phone)
Me- "What did Grandma want?"
Ollie- "She said she'd call back in a minute and then she said, 'If you'd like to make a call please hang up and try again.'" He really thought that Grandma was telling him to hang up the phone and try again. :)

We have a READER!!

Ollie has joined the world of readers! Back in August I decided that Ollie was ready to learn to read. I asked several friends for recommendations of reading programs. I picked a book called "Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons" by Siegried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox, and Elaine Bruner. I picked it because it was only one book that I had to buy, it had great reviews, and it was easy to follow. I loved this program because it told ME exactly what to do to teach him to read.

Ollie just finished the book last Friday. I am so PROUD of him. He has worked so hard. He can really read now! We had many battles about it along the way (he gets his stubbornness from me) but now we get to read "real" books. I'm still planning on reading with him everyday but we are going to transition over to picture books now. He is very excited about it! He keeps saying, "Reading opens up a whole new world."

After six months of lessons I let him pick a reward. I gave him several options: 1- Chuck E'Cheese as a family 2- Take a friend out for ice cream 3- Take a friend to the museum 4- Tea Party with friends. He picked a tea party with friends. He then proceeded to tell me all the friends he was going to invite... needless to say, he has many friends and he wanted all of them. We came to a nice conclusion... we will have the party on a school day (to exclude school age friends) and we will keep the guests list to girls and have another party later for the boys. He then told me how to decorate the house and all the food I need to fix. He's got the whole thing planned out in his mind. Hopefully, I can get the plans close to what he wants. :)

Mom's Snowman

About a week ago, we got snow. Real snow. It was enough snow to completely cover the grass. It was awesome. I was way excited about it. I dressed the kids up real warm and outside we went. Lily promptly sat down... got all wet... and screamed and screamed and screamed. Ollie complained that his mittens didn't keep his hands warm enough and didn't want to take his hands out of his pockets (except for one very well aimed snowball directed at mom). Being the good mother that I am, what did I do... Told the children that we were NOT going back into the house until I had built a snowman. Amid the screaming and complaining I quickly built a little snowman. Then we went inside and the kiddos got a warm bath. My children are definitely Texans!

Here's a picture of Ollie standing by my quickly built, lopsided snowman. :)